It was just about a year ago we were sitting around patiently (and rather impatiently) waiting for the follow-up to Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, and the highly acclaimed Bon Iver, Bon Iver was clearly well worth the wait. The album easily made a slew of blogs’, magazines’ and assorted media’s Top Album of 2011 and would eventually go on to win several Grammys, including Best New Artist, Best Alternative Music Album and both Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “Holocene” (long live Bonny Bear). While Justin Vernon’s music was beautifully crafted melodically, methodically, and instrumentally, the physical album itself is nothing to be overlooked. The album art was painted by Minnesota artist Gregory Euclide, who documented bits of the process and later posted them on YouTube. Like the rest of Euclide’s work, he uses mixed-media, including ice from the Midwestern winter, dirt and other organic matter to create a robust 3-D album cover. Check out his working methods below, and see more of Greg Euclide’s work here.

Watch “The Making of Bon Iver’s Album Art” parts 2 & 3 after the Jump…